BXD Mouse Facility
Sponsors:
University of Alabama Health Services Foundation (UAHSF), General Endowment Fund
(GEF), UAB Center for Aging (CFA)
Purpose:
The Facility for Genetic Mapping of Complex Traits in the Mouse produces C57BL/6
X DBA/2 (BXD)Recombinant Inbred Strains of mice in order to conduct senescence research
and to provide mice for other investigators in the UAB Research Community.
Description:
Genetically well-characterized C57BL/6 X DBA/2 (BXD) recombinant inbred (RI) strains
of mice have been used to analyze three key aspects of immune senescence and have
identified genetic loci that regulate these immune senescent features.
Thymic involution has been analyzed by counting the total number of thymocytes at
different ages ranging from 2 to 22 months of age in all of these strains of mice.
Peripheral T-cell immune response can be analyzed using the BXD RI strains of mice.
Our findings indicate that the phenotypic differences between the B6 and DBA/2 strains
of mice are sufficient to enable identification of BXD RI strains of mice with high
and low age-related immune senescence. Since the BXD RI strains are genetically
well defined, genetic loci associated with different aspects of immune senescence
can be identified. Primary observations to date are that:
- Lifespan correlates with maintenance of peripheral T cell response
- Thymic involution is associated with decreased peripheral T cell response
- Thymic involution is associated with increased tumor susceptibility
- Genetic loci associated with these traits were determined
Opportunities for Faculty Involvement:
Mapping of complex genetic traits involved in different aspects of aging including
muscle loss, dementia, bone loss and osteoporosis, decreased vision, biochemical
aspects of aging including DNA damage, oxidative stress, cell senescence, signal
pathway defects, age-relate susceptibility to infections, to name a few.
Primary Contact Person:
John Mountz, MD, Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine
Division of Rheumatology
473 LHRB
701 S. 19th St
Birmingham AL, 35294
(tel) (205) 934-8909
(fax) (205) 975-6648
Leaders and Key Staff:
- John Mountz, MD, PhD, Director
- Sam Cartner, PhD, DVM, Co-Director
- Hui-Chen Hsu, PhD Project Coordinator